1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to methods and systems for small, portable and battery-operated dual-mode transponders. However, embodiments may be useful in for other problems, e.g., problems in which it is useful to detect the location of, or report sensor measurements from, a monitored mobile object.
2. Description of Related Art
Usage of indoor real time location systems (“RTLS”) has gained popularity and is widely used. RTLS is especially popular in the healthcare industry for a variety of applications ranging from tracking of assets and people (e.g., patients and staff), sensing of patient vital signs (e.g., temperature), hygiene compliance, elopement (i.e., unauthorized patient disappearance), theft prevention, and so forth.
Presently known RTLS systems operate based upon one of two main categories of technology: a radio technology and a “secondary” technology. Secondary technology refers to short-range systems that use infrared (“IR”), low-frequency RF (“LF”), ultrasound, or similar technologies, in order to provide localized and highly accurate position determination.
Radio Technology for RTLS systems may be divided into two main groups: (1) Wi-Fi based wireless systems; and (2) non-Wi-Fi based wireless systems. A main difference between these two main groups is that the Wi-Fi based wireless systems allow very quick and low cost entry into RTLS because the Wi-Fi infrastructure (e.g., Wi-Fi Access Points) almost always already has been installed in hospitals and institutions.
In contrast, the non-Wi-Fi based systems require their own communication network to operate. A main advantage of non-Wi-Fi based systems is that they can support more RTLS applications communicating with the network, compared to a Wi-Fi based system. When using a large number of tags, the cost of a non-Wi-Fi based system is substantially lower because the cost of a Wi-Fi based tag is substantially higher. Another fundamental advantage of non-Wi-Fi based system is that the tag size is smaller, and the tag may have a longer battery life because the non-Wi-Fi based system may be designed to be much more energy efficient.
Therefore, there exists a need to provide an improved RTLS system that provides the advantages of both a Wi-Fi system and a non-Wi-Fi system. Such an improved RTLS system may first provide support to an initial Wi-Fi based system, along with an upgrade path to support non-Wi-Fi based systems as demand expands for higher performing solutions and/or increased capacity. An upgrade may later take place, without a need to replace the initial Wi-Fi based system and otherwise making obsolete the initial investment of the Wi-Fi tags and other Wi-Fi infrastructure components. The upgraded system may be able to support different applications in different locations in the facility and optimize cost/performance.